Books @ Leadership Network

On the Verge

 
Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson have given us a jewel in the book “On The Verge.”  Obviously by the title one can assume they sense Western Christianity is on the verge of something big- an apostolic movement of gigantic potential for the Church in the West. 

What I like about this book is the blending of a systematic dreamer (Alan Hirsch who has a brilliant mind) and an effective practioner (Dave Ferguson who has an impeccable track record). I’ve known both of these guys for more than a decade and I’ve never been disappointed by either. In fact it’s their coming together that excites me. The collaboration has produced a book you must read at least once and then implement.

I first met Dave in 2000 when one of the stops on our tour was held at his church.  I was impressed with his passion for transformation and the development of the Big Idea which has become the backbone of their multisite and church planting efforts.

I first met Alan in 2002 when he attended an event I pulled together on our island with twenty or so people who were probing the edges of what has become a push for an apostolic movement.  Among the group were such notables as Len Sweet, Ed Stetzer, Mark DeYmaz, Carl George, George Hunter, Bob Roberts, Dave Travis, Reggie McNeal and a host of other folks you would recognize.  I remember talking with Alan during the event and it was clear he had little use for any forms of institutional Christianity.

Since then Alan has moved more to the middle and now accepts the role the institutional church could play in this apostolic movement. At the same time Dave has become one of the leading voices in this movement which appears to be taking shape at this moment. Notice I said “appears.” It’s still too soon to say anything with certainty.

The book is divided into four parts- Imagine, Shift, Innovate, and Move.  Imagine a new form of church that is truly Apostolic. Make the Shift to this new form of church by embodying “movement practices.” Let your imagination run wild dreaming about this innovating paradigm. And then move to make the movement happen.  The first two sections are written by Alan with a response from Dave; the second two sections are written by Dave with a response by Alan.

The heart of the book is what the authors call the “Apostolic Genius” which every church has within its DNA.  The Apostolic Genius is more than just a way of thinking; it is also the intelligence that is found throughout the system the New Testament calls the “ecclesia.” The Apostolic Genius consists of six parts:

• Jesus is Lord is the capstone of the movement and is the only element of this intelligence that isn’t found in every other religious movement.
• Disciple making is essential because movements grow only in proportion to the number of new disciples. Apprenticing people into the way of Jesus is what defines the Christian movement and what is lacking in so many institutional churches.
• The missional-incarnational impulse means that mission is the catalyzing principle of the church and permeates everything the church does and is not just one department among many.
• An Apostolic environment is essential for any missional church and movement which means the primary ministry of a church is mission not maintenance.
• Organic systems point up our need to return to a people-centered understanding of ecclesia which has been lost in most institutional forms of Christianity.
• Communitas doesn’t refer to mere community as we are prone to think of it but more to a profound bond that moves participants from acquaintances to partners and from associates to comrades who are will to risk exploring the edges together.

The last chapter of the book is a thriller that you simply don’t want to miss. Dave shares the nitty-gritty of moving from the status quo to an apostolic movement.  Just to give you a taste here are four questions he asks:

• “Is your church more interested in quality programs or quality people?”
• “Is your church as passionate about sending people out as they are about bringing people in?”
• “Is your church content with addition, or does it long to see exponential reproduction?”
• “Is your church holding on to control, or are they leading with a harmonious blend of order and chaos?”

While Alan thinks the institutional local church can reach only 35-40% of a population, I’m convinced that missional communities will never reach more than 5 to 10% of the population unless, because of persecution, the Church has to go underground. However, when you couple outward focused churches with small groups that function like missional communities, you have the seeds of an Apostolic, missional movement that has the possibility of reaching more than 60% of the population.  This is my hope for the truly New Testament missional movement that may be underway today.

Bill Easum
www.churchconsultations.com
www.Billeasum.com

 

 

Bill Easum interviews Frank Viola about Jesus Manifesto

My friend Bill Easum recently did a good interview with Frank Viola on his new book, Jesus Manifesto. Frank made a brief appearance on our Aha! Show this year, and Bill has been around so much we think of him as family. I thought it would be a good interview to share. and PS. I have read the book and it is great. – Dave Travis

Bill Easum Interviews Frank Viola on the new book JESUS MANFIESTO

I had a chance to chat with Frank Viola recently. You may recall, Frank has published some cutting edge books lately. Then along came Jesus Manifesto coauthored with Len Sweet, a long time friend. When I asked Frank if he would talk with me about the book, he was gracious to talk to me. Here are the results of our conversation.

Frank, it’s good to have you do this interview. I know our readers are to benefit greatly. What motivated you both to write this book?

For years, Len and I both shared a burden and concern that Jesus has been getting short-changed in many quarters of His church. In our observation, scores of Christians are excited about and majoring in things that are about Jesus, while Christ Himself is getting left out in the cold.

It appears that there’s a segment of the Christian church that wants to be the hands and feet of Jesus, while detaching themselves from the Head. Others want to bring attention to the work of Christ in the past, but don’t care too much about seeking His face or living by His Risen life in the present.

So we felt to do a project together that would not only give Christ His rightful place . . . that would not only exalt Him beyond the exosphere . . . but that would also unveil His breathtaking Person in ways that would re-introduce Him in a powerfully fresh way to many of God’s people, leaving them staggering to hunger and thirst for Him and Him alone. Our book seeks to bring together the atoning work of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, and the Person of Christ into one enormous whole in the context of knowing Christ as our indwelling Lord as Galatians 2:20, Colossians 2, and Romans 8 vividly describe.

Let me give you an example of how deep the problem runs. Take for instance the four Gospels. A question sometimes asked is “What are the main themes of the four Gospels?” And so people will begin counting words and underling terms. “The Kingdom of God” is a popular answer. “Eternal Life” is another. “Salvation” another. But the governing theme of all four Gospels is none of the above. In fact, it’s as plain as the nose on an Italian’s face, yet we routinely and frequently miss it. (I’m Italian by the way ;-)

The theme is JESUS CHRIST.

What are the four Gospels? Among other things, they are the content of what Twelve men who lived with God in human form for a little over 3 years presented to a new group of Christians beginning on the day of Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem. They preached Christ to those new believers for about four years. They told the stories of what it was like to live with Him. What He said, did, taught, etc.

The first church on earth was built on a revelation of Jesus Christ. And that revelation is partly contained in the four Gospels. Yet we very rarely hear the four Gospels described in this way.

Let me go a little further. One of the things that has fascinated me as a Christian is the fact that Paul of Tarsus would spend several months with a new church plant in heathen soil, and then return after a year to find them still gathering under Christ and following Him. In fact, last year, I wrote an entire book about this very subject. The question before the house for me was: “What on earth did Paul preach to those people in the space of a few months to cause that kind of dynamic and sustaining effect?” Remember, that was a day in which there was no NT available, the OT scrolls were scarce and locked up in the synagogues, and 90% of those new Christians were illiterate.

Right or wrong, I believe that some of what we have presented in Jesus Manifesto gets close to what Paul preached. He called it “the unsearchable riches of Christ” in Ephesians – something we don’t hear too often today. We feel (and hope) that Jesus Manifesto gives readers a glimpse of some of those riches.

Tell us the story behind writing the book with Leonard Sweet.

In June of 2009, we put together a 2,400-word essay outlining what was on our hearts. We published it on the Internet, and it quickly went viral. As time went on, two things happened. Readers wanted us to expand the essay, and Thomas Nelson Publishers wanted to publish a book on it. So we began unpacking the ideas we had outlined in our essay into a 200-page book. It released a year later, June 2010.

What has the reaction from readers been so far, and how do you feel about it?

Concerning how I feel about it: To be frank, I think it’s a pretty sweet book ;-)

All jesting aside, I feel quite good about the work. Len and I both felt that a burden had lifted from us when we wrote the essay and particularly when we completed the book. The fact that so many influential Christian leaders from all different tribes have supported and endorsed the work has been a real marvel to me personally. (Readers can check out the endorser list at http://www.thejesusmanifesto.com/endorsements.php)

As far as reader reactions go, it’s beyond what I expected. Our goal in the book was to present a seismic revelation of Christ to the heart of every reader. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is using it toward that end in the lives of not a few people. Consequently, many are saying that the book has changed their lives. Others are saying it brought them to tears as well as to their knees – this includes Christian leaders and pastors.

When people use words like “masterpiece” … “epic” … “a classic” … “breathtaking” to describe your work, it’s profoundly humbling and causes you to thank the Lord in amazement, knowing that it’s Him and not you. So I feel confident that God has breathed upon it, and I’m very grateful that he would use the likes of me, a very flawed vessel, to carry a piece of the ark so to speak. I’m very in touch with the fact that it’s not what we do that has any spiritual or eternal value; it’s what God does.

Reviews and testimonials are coming to us almost daily. People can read how it’s impacting other readers here.

What do you hope to see changed as a result of the book, especially among leaders and pastors?

I began following the Lord seriously at the age of 16. For about the first decade of my Christian life, I gave my life to Christian service. I did a lot. But something happened to me in my late 20s. I got a revelation of Jesus Christ that ruined me. My entire pursuit changed from serving Him to knowing Him, for I realized that I didn’t know Him very well.

Some of the mail I’m getting is by pastors and leaders who are saying the same thing: it sounds like this -- “This book has wrecked me. I now realize that I don’t know Jesus very well and I’ve been preaching things instead of Christ.”

My hope is that this same epiphany (if I can use that word) would happen to every person undertaking Christian service today after reading the book. That they would put it down and begin to make their sole pursuit and obsession knowing Christ in the depths. For everything else flows out of that relational knowledge, including Christian service.

Incidentally, we’ve just launched a new iTunes podcast that explores these issues in depth called CHRIST IS ALL. It’s free to subscribe and many young leaders are making use of it.

You've written a number of books on the church and God's mission, how does Jesus Manifesto relate to those previous works?

I recently write an entire blog post on this very question. Readers can check it out here. But the short of is that the golden thread that runs through all of my work on the church and God’s mission is the absolute and utter headship, centrality, and supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus Jesus Manifesto is the thread that ties all my previous works together. It’s the hub and the rim while my previous five books are the spokes. In the same vein, Len has said that Jesus Manifesto may be the most important book he’s ever written. People can hear him talk about it here.

If you had one thing to say to a young pastor just starting out what would it be?

There are 3 books that I have written with every young leader in mind: They are: Finding Organic Church, Pagan Christianity, and Jesus Manifesto.

So my advice would be for young leaders (and those who feel called to the work) to read those three books prayerfully and with an open heart toward the Lord. And when you are finished, I'm completely available to talk to you about your impressions, reactions, and what you feel God is saying to you in response.

I'm on the look-out for young people who are gifted and called by the Lord, but who are people of integrity who won't take short-cuts in God's work. But rather, who are willing to prepare for their ministry the Lord's way.

I receive a steady influx of emails from pastors in their 40s, 50s and 60s who are burned-out spiritually and have come to conclusion that they didn't prepare for God's work in their youth the way the Lord prescribed. (The Lord’s way of raising up workers just about been forgotten in our time and it’s rarely observed today, unfortunately.) Youthful enthusiasm and youthful ambition drove them in their 20s, and now they feel they wasted much of their lives . . . and there's little fruit to show for it. Some of these men are (or were) pastors of large congregations.

So I'm always thrilled when I meet young gifted people who are willing to prepare for their ministry God’s way as laid out in the New Testament (the pattern is consistent from beginning to end). I’ve got one eye open for young people who are willing to throw away the calendar and spend their youth knowing Jesus Christ in the depths, learning what Body life is all about experientially, and learning a bit about the cross in experience. To my mind, these are the ones whom God will use mightily in the future for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. Regrettably, such people are relatively rare today (I’m privileged to have some of them in my life right now). But I hope and pray that their tribe increases in the days ahead.

---

Frank’s website contains a vast array of free resources on the deeper Christian life and the organic expression of the church: www.FrankViola.com – To read all about Jesus Manifesto, go to www.theJesusManifesto.com

Reading Preferences Gone Digital?

Leadership Network recently polled Advance readers on their reading habits.  We also asked participants how much of their consumption of information happened digitally.  While close to 30% indicated that over 50% of their reading happened without paper, there still seemed to be a preference for print media, especially when it comes to books. 

A year from now, will the preference for paper remain?  My guess is that as the options for digital readers continue to grow, we will see a swing in this data.  My colleague, @stephanieplagens reported on preferences among the early digital reading devices here and there is some speculation that by 2012, the vast majority of cell phones in use will be smart phones with digital reading capabilities.

 

Approximately what percentage of your reading materials are read in a digital format?

1-25%	44%
26-50%	23%
51-75%	22%
75-100%	6%
I don't read anything in digital format.	5%

Powered by Zoomerang® Online Surveys

 

What do you think?  Comment below or contact me at greg.ligon@leadnet.org

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

twitter - @gregligon

My Stack of Books Today

Here is my current stack.

What’s in your stack for the summer?

We are doing our current survey of readers.

Send me a photo or post in the comments.

Will post more vacation reviews later today.

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

dave (dot) travis (at) Leadnet (dot) org

Third Book of Vacation – In Defense of Food

OK, this is one where NPR sucked me in. I heard an interview with Michael Pollan, author, and stopped and bought it. It reads more like an extended New Yorker article.

Basic idea right on the cover: “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

As the author states right up front, that is the thrust of the book. Follow this grandma advice and you will do well nutritionally.

The author describes how the thinking has shifted over the years in science and public policy to get us away from this basic line of thinking. With the combined forces of food processors, taste-makers and government policy, we get further and further away from this sound advice. Plus the science of what causes cancer, heart disease, stomach ailments, depression, etc, etc, blah, blah mainly serves as a distraction.

Media focus on one part of our western diet versus another just leaves people confused.

Since the advent of eating guidelines we have more obesity than ever before even while the percentage of fat in our diets has dropped.

After the top idea the next big idea is “if your great grandma wouldn’t recognize what it is, don’t eat it.” Which follows the advice of: “if you see an ingredient with a funny sounding chemical name, best not to eat that.”

This is not some vegetarian, whole foods, take your vitamins or organic argument but a sensible discussion of what foods are good for us and how they can supply our nutritional needs while keeping us trim.

A quick read at 200 pages to boot.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

(And yes, in the interest of full disclosure, that’s an affiliate link picture up there benefitting Leadership Network)

Vacation Book 2 – A Perfect Mess

OK, I admit it. A colleague wanted me to read this several years ago and I read it quickly. I know because I made a few notes in the margins at the time. But this time I gave it a deep, thorough read making lots of notes for takeaways.

Basic message is: Don’t let some messiness in a home, workplace or life fool you into thinking the person is unproductive. Many productive inventions, discoveries and people are not the hyper- organized types. Lighten up on yourself.

It doesn’t say that disorganization leads to creativity and productivity, but it doesn’t say the opposite either.

When we try to tie things down too tightly, make them too scripted and too systematic, we lose some of the essence of life and miss out on the happy accidents and serendipitous discoveries.

We all have to manage the tension between order and chaos. But the boss that only wants clean desks also tends to discourage creativity that leads to break throughs.

This is a good balance book to Getting Things Done and even Making Ideas Happen which are both books I really like.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

Vacation Reading with Dave – Book One

The full title of this book is Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil win, and why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey – and even Iraq – are destined to become the kings of the World’s Most Popular Sport by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szmanski.

In my last post I told you how I picked my vacation books. No, this book has little to do with church leadership and related factors, but then again….

OK, first off, you don’t have to love soccer to enjoy this book. I grew up playing and coaching my girls but I am not a huge fan of the game. I watch a few World Cup games every four years or so.

But as The Global Game I do think it is important for understanding many cultures.

The authors are two Brits so the focus is primarily on England and its reasons for always hoping for big international wins and usually being disappointed.

As the title suggests it is a combination of Soccer+Economics. But think of the book as well as Freakonomics meets Moneyball. I love economic explanations and I loved Moneyball as the way to find the facts that matter in selecting baseball teams. Moneyball challenged me to look at my own organization and at those I serve in new ways.

But back to Soccernomics – What this book examines is several questions about top level soccer and takes you back to the assumptions by which you think you can predict success or failure. Many of the commonly held beliefs are held up to statistical and other analysis to give some sense of what reality is.

The authors call Top Level Soccer – The Worst Business in the World. Despite the dollars flowing through it, as a profit making concern, very few investors win at this game.

“Over the past decade, people worried a lot more about the survival of soccer clubs than of banks. Yet it was many of the world’s largest banks that disappeared. The public perception that soccer clubs are inherently unstable businesses is wrong. Despite being incompetently run, they are some of the most stable businesses on earth.”

I couldn’t help but think of some of the churches I have worked with over the years. Despite all our concerns of decline, churches find ways to survive and carry on, similar to the clubs around the world.

There is also a great chapter on the export of soccer knowledge through networks from the core soccer powerhouses to other countries developing their teams. This mainly comes from a few Northern European teams that have developed the theory and techniques of play and training and then these are carried by those practitioners to other teams.

Finally the book shows again that open networks, free agency (think free trade) and the global television reach have aided greatly the development of the sport around the world. It helps to start with a sport that is simple, easy to teach and can be enjoyed by many. But add to that satellite television, the internet fan boards and players moving among continents to play for many different teams and then the base continues to grow.

As I reflect on the continued growth of Christianity around the globe we can see many similar factors.

Anyway, this is our affiliate link to the book. If you are going to watch the World Cup, I think you will enjoy this.

If you read it and want to dialogue about the book, feel free to comment here or send me an email to dave (dot) travis (at) leadnet (dot) org.

All the above links are affiliate links that benefit Leadership Network just so you know.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

Steering Through Chaos – Great New Book by Multi-site Church Leader @scottwilson7

My colleague @chris_willard and I (@gregligon) have spent the last couple of years journeying with churches that are experiencing exponential growth.  Pretty much every conversation is punctuated with two common themes – incredible leadership and “pain.”  The leadership is likely not surprising to anyone who understands organizational growth.  But the pain theme may seem foreign to those who have not been a part of leading or serving in a rapidly growing church.

Unfortunately the pain sometimes is demonstrated through broken marriages or movement away from a ministry calling.  In other cases it’s simply pain expressed in the question, “How can I faithfully lead, serve and love this church which God has called me to and now on most days feels like a “rocket ride?”

When I first met @scottwilson7 and the team at The Oaks Fellowship, they were asking the questions and riding the rocket.  In the pages of Scott’s new book, Steering Through Chaos,   you will find the story of a leader and church who have embraced the pain and in a healthy manner have successfully navigated the rocket trajectory and speed of change.

And through their story, you will see yours and be equipped with language and tools to steer through whatever chaos your church may be facing, 

Hear more from Scott here -

Scott Wilson and The Oaks Fellowship – real deal!

Steering through Chaos – great book!

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

Reading List: What Bob Buford is reading this summer

A new series we're launching here at the Books blog is the "Reading List". We'll be asking several innovative Christian leaders for a list of books they're reading and why. As it's been quipped, "leaders are readers" -- so, by knowing what other leaders are reading, you'll get insider on putting your reading lists together and recommendations for others.

Here's a list of books that Bob Buford (author of Halftime and founder of Leadership Network) is reading this summer, excerpted from the latest edition of his Muse-Letter email newsletter (Year 5, Chapter 10) at ActiveEnergy.net:

... Here is what I’m taking in my book bag this summer:

The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy
by David M. Smick
David Smick keeps a low profile, but experts consider him one of the most insightful financial market strategists in the world. For more than two decades, he has conferred with central bankers (such as Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke) and advised top Wall Street executives and investors. The World Is Curved reveals how today's risky environment came to be—and why the mortgage mess is a symptom of potentially far more devastating trouble. He wrestles with the two questions on everyone's mind: How bad could things really get in today's volatile economy? And what can we do about it?

The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It by Joshua Cooper Ramo
Today the very ideas that made America great imperil its future. Our plans go awry and policies fail. In The Age of the Unthinkable, Joshua Cooper Ramo puts forth a revelatory new model for understanding our dangerously unpredictable world. Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, psychology, immunology, and the science of networks, he describes a new landscape of inherent unpredictability--and remarkable, wonderful possibility.

The Definitive Drucker: The Final Word from the Father of Modern Management by Elizabeth Haas Edersheim, Foreword by A. G. Lafley. Edersheim captures the last two years of Peter’s insights. 

My Utmost Devotional Bible New King James Version (NKJV) by Thomas Nelson Publishing Co, Oswald Chambers

How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins, -- four years of research by the principal post-Drucker question asker. Collins’ newest book. Just out. 

    * Decline can be detected.
    * Decline can be reversed.
    * Collins' research project uncovered five step-wise stages of decline:
    * Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success
    * Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More
    * Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril
    * Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
    * Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

There you go. An inside look at what Bob Buford's reading this summer! Chime in and add a comment if you've read any of these already, or want to get some of these books to read along too.

Bookmark and subscribe to this blog and keep your finger on the pulse of what innovative leaders are reading...

// DJ Chuang, Leadership Community Director at Leadership Network